hi i recently bought a HP laptop which currently has 1 gb of RAM which i would like to upgrade to 4GB but i have been told that its not worth having 4gb and should only go for 2gb as i only have a 32bit vista home basic,so i was hoping someone could point me in the right direction shoul i only go for 2 or would 4 be better and if 4 is better would i notice much difference,thanks in advance

If this were XP, I would say stick with 2Gb. But Vista likes more RAM.

A 32-bit OS is limited to 4Gb, but you will never see that due to overhead limitations with 2.8 to 3.5Gb being what most 4Gb systems end up seeing.

You will likely see a significant difference between 1G and 2Gb. The difference in performance above 2Gb will be much less dramatic. If you had, or plan to upgrade to one of the more graphics intensive versions of Vista, I would say go for the max your budget will allow. If sticking to basic, I would probably stick with 2Gb on a notebook. Afterall, notebooks, in spite of what makers try to convince us otherwise, do not make good gaming machines or heavy-duty workhorses. The physical constraints within the small confines of a notebook case prevent adequate heat removal needed for intensive tasks. They were, and are still for road warriors who need to travel light.